Sweet Potato Caramel Blondies

Brandi is the creator of the blog The Vegan 8. She has been a passionate cook for years, but it was her husband’s painful disease with gout that led her to choose a vegan lifestyle. She chose a healthier way of eating for her family that ignited a passion to create unique and delicious recipes that also happen to be vegan, gluten-free and oil-free. Her blog has become very popular, as it focuses on 8 ingredients or less, so anybody can make them with ease. Brandi believes in using nature’s powerful whole foods to nourish and promote a healthier body and a healthier mind. She enjoys creating food that everybody loves, whether vegan or not. Brandi’s belief is that food can be easy, use minimal ingredients, yet still be shockingly delicious.

This recipe for Sweet Potato Caramel Blondies creates delicious sweet potato caramel drizzle out of mashed sweet potato, coconut milk and sugar and vanilla and then adds that on top of the tasty dessert bars that are made of the same drizzle along with oat flour, almond butter and dairy-free chocolate chips. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

For the Sweet Potato Caramel

1 cup cooked/mashed sweet potato (1 large potato)

2 cups “light” canned coconut milk

1 cup coconut sugar

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

For the Blondies

1 cup of the prepared sweet potato caramel

3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons roasted creamy almond butter

1/2 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 cup oat flour

1/2 cup sweet white “sticky rice” flour, not brown rice flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill, but Asian stores carry a “glutinous” rice flour as well, just make sure the only ingredient is rice, no water)

3/4 cup coconut sugar

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4-1/2 cup dairy-free chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

*Note: Make the caramel drizzle the night before so that it has time to thicken in the refrigerator.

To make the caramel, roast the potato at 405 degrees for about an hour or until extremely tender, almost mushy. Let it cool for awhile and then peel the skin and mash completely with a fork. Measure out a cup of mashed potato, making sure it is full with no gaps and make sure to level off with your finger. Add it to a food processor.

Add the coconut milk, coconut sugar and salt and process until completely smooth. Add to a pot and turn heat to medium-low. Once it comes to a boil, let it boil about 10 minutes untouched. This is a lot, so it needs to really cook to thicken up. After about 10 minutes (I set my timer) whisk really well and remove from the heat. Whisk in the vanilla and pour into a container to chill in the fridge overnight for 8 hours, it should be much thicker by then.

For the blondies, preheat an oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8×8 square pan with nonstick spray (very important so they don’t stick!) Then, simply combine only 1 cup of the prepared caramel, almond butter and vanilla into a large bowl and stir well. In a small bowl, combine the oat flour, rice flour, salt and whisk. Stir in the chocolate chips. Add to the wet ingredients and stir until completely mixed.

Pour into the prepared pan and spread out the batter evenly to the corners, it will be thick. Add extra chocolate chips on top if desired. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is shiny and firm and the edges have pulled away from the pan. Let completely cool before carefully cutting to ensure they don’t fall apart, about an hour. Drizzle extra caramel all over the top (you will have plenty leftover). If you store them at room temp, they will stay fairly soft and in the fridge, they will become very firm and chewy. Either way works according to your preference. I store mine in the fridge and then let them sit at room temp for a little bit before eating one.